KUALA LUMPUR: SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd’s earnings fell 48.8% to RM260.69mil in the first quarter ended April 30, 2015 from RM509.42mil a year ago due to lower earnings from the energy division as oil prices plunged.
The oil and gas services heavyweight said on Monday its revenue slipped 7.5% to RM2.258bil from RM2.443bil mainly due to lower revenue from the energy division.
Earnings per share were 4.37 sen compared with 8.5 sen. It declared an interim dividend of 1.25 sen a share, lower than the 2.35 sen a share a year ago.
“The group recorded operating profit of RM336.3mil, which was RM124.9mil or 27.1% lower compared to RM461.2mil in Q1 FY2015, excluding the gain arising from acquisition of subsidiaries,” it said.
SKPetro said the decrease in the current quarter operating profit was mainly due to the energy division whilst the operating profit derived from the services divisions namely engineering and construction (E&C) and drilling remained similar to a year ago.
“The E&C segment registered marginally lower revenue by RM48.9mil or 4.3% mainly due to lower scope of works for the existing contracts in line with clients’ planned activities, offset with higher contributions from newly executed international projects during the quarter,” it said.
The operating profit for the E&C segment was RM187.4mil, down RM40.1mil or 17.6% than RM227.5mil a year ago.
SKPetro said the drilling segment revenue rose RM125.2mil or 19.4% from a year ago mainly due to commencement of contract for new deliveries. As a result, the operating profit was up 26.8%.
As for the energy segment, revenue fell RM320.7mil or 43.6% from a year ago, primarily due to a combination of lower barrels of oil lifted as a result of the natural decline of oil reserves in the production sharing contract (PSC) blocks and lower average price per barrels.
“Consequently, the operating profit was RM138.6mil or 70.0% lower than RM198.0mil in Q1 FY2015, excluding the gain arising from acquisition of the subsidiaries,” it explained.
In a separate announcement, SKPetro said its unit, SapuraKencana TMC Sdn Bhd, had launched a multi-currency Islamic medium-term notes (IMTNs) programme of up to RM7bil.
SKPetro said the programme had a tenure of 30 years.
The proceeds would be used to refinance SapuraKencana TMC's existing financings and to fund oil- and gas-related business requirements for the group, it said.
SKPetro said the 30-year multi-currency sukuk programme was not rated and structured based on syariah principle of Murabahah via Tawarruq arrangement.
Maybank Investment Bank is the principal adviser and lead arranger for the multi-currency sukuk programme.
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